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Topic: Misinformation
Book

Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science

National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine

"'Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science' characterizes the nature, scope, and impacts of this phenomenon, and provides guidance on interventions, policies, and future research. This report is a comprehensive assessment of the available evidence and reflects a systems view of the problem given the broader historical and contemporary contexts that shape the lived experiences of people and their relationships to information. The report aims to illuminate the impacts of misinformation about science and potential solutions across a diversity of individual peoples, communities, and societies."

Conference

Building Trust in Science: A One-Day Conference for a More Informed Future

Aspen Institute

"Building Trust in Science: A One-Day Conference for a More Informed Future, a collaboration between the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program and the MIT Press, aims to bridge the gap between decades of research in neuroscience and social science about how humans process and understand information, and the vulnerabilities to misinformation and propaganda we endure when we fail to leverage this knowledge in communicating science, especially in the age of generative AI.

"This conference, planned for March 10, 2025 in Boston, at MIT in Cambridge, MA, will be ideal for science communicators, journalists, researchers, students, policymakers, and anyone interested in mobilizing knowledge for a better world. This conference will explore how journalists, science communicators, researchers, and policymakers can utilize knowledge about human learning to empower diverse groups to make informed decisions in a complex world;
combat disinformation and build trust in science and scientists;
amplify voices and perspectives historically marginalized by science and journalism; and craft impactful messaging that fosters active and engaged communities where science is a cornerstone."

Video

Communicating science to a skeptical public: “Your Local Epidemiologist” Katelyn Jetelina

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

"Launched as a 'direct line' to accessible information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist” has blossomed into a trusted, wide-ranging science source to more than 250,000 followers. In this event, the newsletter’s founder, epidemiologist and data scientist Katelyn Jetelina, speaks about how public health leaders can cut through misinformation and partisanship with effective, empathetic communication."
Resource Database / Guide

The Public Health Communicators Guide to Misinformation

Public Health Communications Collaborative

"Building continued trust in public health requires communicators to learn how to identify false narratives and respond with clarity, accurate information, and accessible language. This guide, developed by the Public Health Communications Collaborative in partnership with the Infodemiology Training Program, provides foundational insights into the current misinformation landscape and an overview of tools for assessing risk and determining responses."
Article

Repetition makes climate misinformation feel more true — even for those who back climate science

"Climate misinformation may be more effective than we’d like to think because of a phenomenon called the illusory truth effect. In short, we are more likely to believe a lie if we encounter it repeatedly. Worse, the effect works immediately — a lie seems to be more true even after just one repetition." This article in Nieman Lab summarizes a recent paper by the same authors (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0307294) in which the researchers put the illusory truth effect to the test among people with strongly held existing beliefs.
Video

Engaging the public on LGBTQ health: A conversation with journalist Erin Reed

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

In this virtual event presented by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence, journalist and activist Erin Reed spoke to Ivan Hsiao, founder of Trans Health HQ. They discussed "ways to translate and disseminate research about LGBTQ health for policy and public discourse, combat misinformation and disinformation, and support progress toward a more equitable future for the LGBTQ community."
Article

How investigative journalists can fight back against health misinformation

The panel "Mis- and Disinformation about Health is Killing Us. What Should Journalists Be Doing about It?" presented at the 2024 International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, explored how certain industries are exploiting a vacuum of trusted health information to misinform and disinform the public about their products and policies. Moderated by Pulitzer Center senior editor Susan Ferriss and featuring Will Fitzgibbon of The Examination; Chrissie Giles, deputy editor of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism; and Mia Malan, founder and editor-in-chief of the South Africa-based Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, the panelists "discussed their experiences working on impactful investigations and shared advice for journalists who want to cover health issues but don’t know where to start."
Video

Talking shop: When debunking climate disinformation gets labeled “censorship”

Covering Climate Now

"Increasingly, disinformation peddlers are protecting their lies by accusing anyone who fact-checks or debunks climate disinformation of censorship, bias, or being anti–free speech and debate. How can journalists preempt such charges, or deal with them, as we continue to tackle climate disinformation on the beat? In this press briefing, co-sponsored by Covering Climate Now and Climate Action Against Disinformation, experts detailed strategies used by disinformers to discredit journalists and how you can protect your reporting and serve your audiences. Kendra Pierre-Louis of Bloomberg; Marco Silva of BBC News; and Wudan Yan, freelance journalist, fact-checker, and entrepreneur, joined moderator Amy Westervelt, executive editor of Drilled, for a one-hour conversation."
Conference

News Impact Summit: Fighting climate misinformation

European Journalism Centre

"The News Impact Summit in Copenhagen, organized in partnership with the Google News Initiative, will address how climate misinformation undermines public trust in climate policies and stalls progress toward a green transition." Journalists and media professionals who attend the summit will attend talks, panels, workshops, and interactive discussions that "explore innovative storytelling techniques to highlight the urgency of climate action, debunk falsehoods, and empower communities to demand accountability from policymakers and industry stakeholders."
Video

How to pre-bunk climate disinformation

Covering Climate Now

"Researchers studying climate disinformation agree: 'Inoculation' is one of the most effective options for countering it, and the first step toward inoculation is 'pre-bunking,' or warning audiences in advance. In this webinar, co-sponsored by Covering Climate Now and Climate Action Against Disinformation, panelists will discuss ways journalists can get ahead of climate disinformation and 'pre-bunk' it in a way that doesn’t amplify the disinfo or cause unnecessary alarm." Amy Westervelt, investigative climate journalist and executive editor of Drilled Media, moderated the panel. The panelists were Ketan Joshi, communications consultant & author, Phil Newell, Director of Science Defense, Climate Nexus, and Dharna Noor, Fossil Fuels and Climate Reporter, The Guardian.
Video

Battling disinformation, fending off despair and staying relevant: What’s the future for environmental journalism?

SEJ

"Environmental journalism — much like the news business more broadly — is in a state of flux. An increasingly urgent climate crisis combined with an evolving media landscape have raised big questions that linger over our profession and our beat." In this session at the 2024 Society of Environmental Journalists conference, panelists grappled with these issues. They discussed how to combat climate disinformation, coping with the feeling of despair, new business models for journalism, and more.
Video

Too much and not enough: The challenge of conveying trustworthy information

AAAS, Kavli Foundation

2019 AAAS Kavli winner and senior WIRED editor Maryn McKenna discusses health communication and disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. McKenna walks the audience through different examples of communications from early in the pandemic and identifies lessons learned from sharing health information during this emergency phase.
Article

How does science misinformation affect Americans from underrepresented communities?

Boston University

"New Boston University–led research has found historically excluded and marginalized Americans may be more vulnerable to inaccurate notions about science due to 'structural and institutional power dynamics.'" The Brink, Boston University's online publication for sharing research news, spoke to paper author Michelle Amazeen about the study's findings.
Resource Database / Guide

Tip sheet: Science journalism and communication in the misinformation era

CASW Connector

On April 16, CASW Connector hosted a Chat discussing science journalism and communication in the misinformation era. The panelists talked about key concepts – and misconceptions – that journalists and communicators encounter in combating misinformation, shared insights from research on how people process information, and answered questions from the audience. This event was facilitated by Connector managing editor Kate Travis, and the panelists were: Kai Kupferschmidt, contributing correspondent at Science and Knight Science Journalism Fellow, and Briony Swire-Thompson, director of the Psychology of Misinformation Lab and assistant professor of political science, psychology, and network science at Northeastern University.
Video

Memory and belief regression after the correction of misinformation

Harvard University; Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy

"After misinformation has been corrected individuals initially update their belief extremely well. However, this change is rarely sustained over time, with belief returning towards pre-correction levels. In this edition of the Misinformation Speaker Series, Briony Swire-Thompson discusses a study aimed to examine the mechanisms of belief regression, and whether corrected misinformation suffers more from belief regression than affirmed facts."
Article

Misinformation, trust, and personality in journalism: A conversation with Kai Kupferschmidt

Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT

Science Magazine contributing writer Kai Kupferschmidt has "witnessed how social media — and the personalities who populate it — can impact the public’s ability to distinguish facts from fiction. Now, as a 2023-24 Knight Science Journalism Fellow, Kupferschmidt is digging deeper into those issues." In this interview, he discusses his plans for his MIT fellowship and his perspectives on misinformation and related issues.
Article

Reducing health misinformation in science: A call to arms

"The public often turns to science for accurate health information, which, in an ideal world, would be error free. However, limitations of scientific institutions and scientific processes can sometimes amplify misinformation and disinformation... We characterize this article as a “call to arms,” given the urgent need for the scientific information ecosystem to improve. Improvements are necessary to maintain the public’s trust in science, foster robust discourse, and encourage a well-educated citizenry."
Resource Database / Guide

The Debunking Handbook 2020

The Debunking Handbook 2020 is a guide to debunking misinformation. While it was developed by climate scientists, the tactics described apply to a variety of scientific topics. The Handbook was written by 22 scientists through a consensus process and has been translated into about 20 languages.
Resource Database / Guide

The Drilled 2024 Guide to Climate Disinformation

This guide, from climate accountability newsroom Drilled, unpacks the fossil fuel industry's key misleading messages. It covers gas prices, offshore wind and whales, development in Global South countries, misleading terms, and more. Drilled plans to keep the guide updated as messaging changes.
Article

Beyond the debunk: How science journalists can report on misinformation

NASW

"The key to correcting misinformation is to debunk it quickly, and ideally prebunk it before it even sprouts. At the ScienceWriters2022 national meeting in Memphis, journalist Kat Eschner taught attendees multiple tools for writing different types of stories to combat misinformation, in a session titled 'Beyond Fake News: Reporting on Misinformation.'" This recap article summarizes key points and resources from the session.
Resource Database / Guide

Disinformation Resource List — Floodlight & Drilled

Drilled, Spotlight

This tipsheet, compiled for a session at the 2024 Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) conference, shares an extensive list of resources for reporting on climate disinformation. The tipsheet's authors write: "There are so many different flavors of climate disinformation out there, and especially in an election year when climate is on the ballot it can feel overwhelming to sort through it all. We’ve pulled together some of our favorite resources for checking sources, following the money, and sorting fact from fiction. "
Article

Misinformation: 3 tips to help journalists avoid being part of the problem

"In his new book, How America Lost Its Mind, Harvard Kennedy School professor Thomas Patterson charts the dramatic rise in misinformation over the past three decades. On everything from climate change to vaccines, millions of Americans hold views that are wildly at odds with the facts and are confounding efforts to deal with the nation’s policy problems." In this article, "Patterson offers journalists three tips on how to avoid being part of the misinformation problem as well as suggestions for what to do instead."
Article

Preventing the Spread of Misinformation & Disinformation

Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)

This statement from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) offers guidance to journalists on how to protect against spreading false and misleading information.
Resource Database / Guide

How to Responsibly Report on Hacks and Disinformation: 10 guidelines and a template for every newsroom

Stanford Cyber Policy Center

"The run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election illustrated how vulnerable our most venerated journalistic outlets are to a new kind of information warfare. Reporters are a targeted adversary of foreign and domestic actors who want to harm our democracy. And to cope with this threat, especially in an election year, news organizations need to prepare for another wave of false, misleading, and hacked information." This report offers a playbook for newsrooms to adopt that includes "core principles and standards for reporting on newsworthy events involving false, misleading and hacked information."
Video

Why We Believe — Framing the disinformation crisis for journalists

National Press Club Journalism Institute, American Psychological Association, PEN America

"Journalism and democracy have been upended by the growth of mis- and disinformation. Countering it effectively requires understanding why people are susceptible and targeted — and how they can become more resilient. Psychological research can teach journalists how to pre-bunk disinformation and convey credibility in ways that readers, viewers, and listeners can process, which is more essential than ever as Election Day 2024 nears. The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the American Psychological Association, and PEN America produced a program on strategies for coverage that informs and empowers communities and discussed the ways disinformation has affected the practice of journalism." Panelists are: Tiffany Hsu, reporter on the technology team covering misinformation and disinformation, New York Times; Shannon Jankowski, program director, journalism and disinformation for PEN America; Jay Van Bavel, director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab and associate professor of psychology and neural science, New York University. The panel was moderated by Beth Francesco, executive director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute.